Franklin baseball had shown a penchant for comeback victories of late. Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, the hole they had to climb out of on Thursday morning was simply too large.
Rose-Hulman erupted for 10 runs in the second inning and held off a late Griz charge for a 15-9 victory in the opening game of the HCAC tournament at Kokomo Municipal Stadium.
The sixth-seeded Grizzlies (23-18) will play an elimination game at 10 a.m. Friday against No. 4 Hanover. The two teams played a doubleheader during the regular season, with the Panthers taking both games.
Jaxon Henke got Franklin out of the gate quickly on Thursday when he cranked the sixth pitch of the game over the left-field wall for a solo home run, but the Engineers got that run back in the bottom of the first inning and then sent 14 batters to the plate against three Griz pitchers in the second, taking a massive 11-1 lead.
Drew Helton singled in a run in the third inning, but Rose-Hulman got that run back in the fourth to restore its 10-run cushion.
In the fifth, the Grizzlies started chipping away. Helton doubled down the line in right field to score
Dyllan Redmon and
Josh Girvan, later coming home himself on an RBI groundout by
Davis Wagner. Franklin cut the deficit to 12-7 in the seventh when an
Alex Billman sacrifice fly plated
Garrett DeHart and Wagner scored from third base when
Noah Loveall's attempted steal of second drew a throw, but the Engineers created some more distance with three runs in the eighth inning.
Loveall's RBI groundout and a bases-loaded walk to Redmon got Franklin two more runs in the ninth inning, but the Grizzlies left the bases loaded to end the game.
Helton had two hits and three RBIs in a losing effort, while Girvan went 3 for 5 with a pair of stolen bases and two runs scored. Redmon and Wagner also each had two of Franklin's 12 hits.
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